Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 November 25

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November 25

Republic of Texas: Date problem

The following question @ Talk:Republic of Texas has been archived without any response. So, I now refer it to my eminent Refdesk colleagues:

Date problem

• On October 13, 1845, a large majority of voters in the republic approved both the American offer and the proposed constitution that specifically endorsed slavery and emigrants bringing slaves to Texas.[15] This constitution was later accepted by the US Congress, making Texas a US state on the same day annexation took effect, December 29, 1845.

That's fine, except the lede says:

• The Republic of Texas (Spanish: República de Texas) was an independent sovereign country in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846.

How could it have been a state of the Union from December 1845 if it continued as an independent sovereign country until February 1846? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 06:29, 24 May 2015 (UTC)

Or vice-versa? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 03:42, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks in advance. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:24, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, if you look over in the sidebar of the article, it says:

• Annexation by the United States of America—December 29, 1845
• Transfer of power—February 19, 1846

The link goes to Texas Annexation, where it says:

The bill was signed by United States President Polk on December 29, 1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19, 1846.

And again:

President James K. Polk signed the legislation making the former Lone Star Republic a state of the Union on December 29, 1845. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 14, 1846.

Presumably in 1845 the nascent Morse telegraph system had not yet connected Washington DC to Texas, so it could not have been expected that the Texas legislature would even know when Congress had passed the bill and President Polk had signed it; they only might have known when they were planning to do so. So if they wanted to formally shut down their own legislature once Texas was accepted as a state, it would have to be done afterwards. What this meant in practice in terms of whose laws were considered in effect in Texas on what date, or (for example) whether the declaration by Texas was retroactive, I don't know. --70.49.170.168 (talk) 01:04, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

According to this document from the Texas State Historical Organization (endorsed by the State authorities, here), the State of Texas came into being on the 19th February 1846, when the first legislature of the State was sworn in, and Anson Jones officially handed over power to J. Pinckney Henderson. Between December and February, Texas was still "The Republic of Texas", but part of the USA. Tevildo (talk) 01:21, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Ah. So, during those dates, the USA consisted of a number of a states, maybe a commonwealth or two, some territories, and a republic? Is that the way it was? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:51, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

The commonwealths were and are states. Texas aka Republic of Texas was a state. Iowa could rename itself The Empire of Iowa, but unless it tried to secede it would still be just a state, constitutionally speaking. A somewhat similar situation happened in California, which still says "California Republic" on its flag. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:47, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Going back to the primary sources here (rather than our article, which, although I'm sure it accurately reflects the secondary sources, contains various errors, such as the obviously incorrect February 14 date), the sequence of events was:

March 1, 1845 - The US Congress resolves to admit Texas as a state.

June 23, 1845 - The Republic of Texas legislature votes to accept the USA's offer.

July 4, 1845 - The Republic of Texas resolves to create the constitution of the State of Texas (and, by implication, to dissolve the Republic).

October, 1845 - The constitution of the State is submitted to the US Congress.

December 29, 1845 - The Act creating the State of Texas is passed by the US Congress.

February 19, 1846 - The State of Texas legislature is sworn in, and Jones hands over authority to Henderson.

So, between December 29 and February 18, the State of Texas existed (on paper) and was part of the USA, but the actual government of Texas was still in the hands of the Republic. The Republic, as a legal entity, was never part of the USA, and governed the land which made up Texas independently of the USA until February 18. Tevildo (talk) 14:39, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Fascinating. Thanks for the detailed answer, Tevildo. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:27, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Details handling software

Hello, I'm looking for an open source 'Customer Details' handling software which can be synchronised with smart phone to PC and PC to smart phone. A customer detail handling software which holds name, address, telephone, and so on; the more options the better... Can someone help me with this please? Regards. --Space Ghost (talk) 05:55, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

CRM is the generic term for customer relationship management applications and sales force automation is another term often used for CRM-specific software. Use each (separately) in search combined with "open source" and your main PC platform (Linux|Mac|Windows) and your smartphone (Android|iPhone) and you should find a solution your company can use for investment of time, not money.

These will most likely be client-server applications that can be self-hosted (if you have the time, know how, and server space), with some mechanism to access from phone, - sync contacts, CSV for spreadsheet, data dump in DropBox or Google Drive, or even a phone app. Might well be overkill, but we can't assess your business needs on this Humanities Reference Desk.

If you are not interested in such multi-user, enterprise-class self-hosted open source server-based solutions, but only need a personal, but business capable, contact manager to use on phone and laptop, you'll find lots of freemium cloud-based smartphone CRM solutions in Google Play Store and Apple's counterpart. CRM in search box. See if you can export from phone or cloud to CVS before expending too much time in data entry and check what you don't get with free accounts, e.g., Compare Zoho CRM editions -- Paulscrawl (talk) 08:54, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Internet usage been a problem for me since the year 2011. I do use internet but keep it to the minimal, e.g., I opened this edit page and then disconnected my connection, wrote my message then connected and sent it. Basically, whatever I do in my life now, since 2011, I'll be doing it with/using the USB wire. I can keep the WIFI, Bluetooth, and internet connection to minimal only, meaning, stay disconnected with certain things as much as possible. If you guys could recommend something that I can stick by for the rest of my life with, like the way you guys have with the GNUCash and MoneyManagerEX - both are being used simultaneously for zero error creation, and Kompozer - which I have not started using yet, I'll be grateful. -- Space Ghost (talk) 19:19, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Arts: Help needed

I am translating a German arts/literature article into English. I need assistance with a few concrete questions (differences in editing, legal questions etc.). I have visited the Wikiproject Arts, but there is not much happening. Where can I find help, i.e. a knowlegable person, to answer my questions? ! Bikkit ! (talk) 07:41, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Try the Help Desk — though, perhaps IRC would be faster if you anticipate a lot of back and forth questions/responses. -- Paulscrawl (talk) 07:48, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

P.S. Wikipedia IRC is linked in box on top right of Help Desk page. -- Paulscrawl (talk) 07:58, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

THX, I'll use the Help Desk! Bikkit ! (talk) 08:31, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

George Sand's Orlando

A friend of mine told me that Virginia Woolf's Orlando was inspired by a similarly-themed work by George Sand. I did some research about it but I could not find anything. Is there any truth in this claim? 176.92.73.164 (talk) 15:09, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

P.S.

I forgot to mention that he maintained that Sand's work was also called Orlando... 176.92.73.164 (talk) 15:25, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

George Sand's play Gabriel (about a woman raised as a male prince, who later acts more feminine to appease her lover) has a few similarities with Orlando (it compares and contrasts what's expected of high class men and women), but lacks the magical realism (no-one is immortal, no-one is transformed by a parade of spirits). It doesn't look like she ever wrote anything called Orlando (or Roland, which would be the French equivalent), although she did adapt As You Like It, which stars an Orlando. Smurrayinchester 16:22, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Maybe some confusion with Consuelo? She appears in this website, but that means nothing. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:22, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Painting reminds me of another

Carlotta, is that you?

Today's "Did you know" features a painting of Louise de Broglie, Countess d'Haussonville.

When I look at it, I get a strong resonance of a painting of "Carlotta Valdes" that played a key role in the first act of one of my favorite movies, Vertigo. It's not really that close, on a literal level. But it very much reminds me of the other image.

So my question is, does anyone have any idea whether this was intentional? Or am I maybe picking up on some identifiable conventions of feminine portraiture that I wasn't aware existed? --Trovatore (talk) 18:29, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

(1) Searching for +carlotta +vertigo +countess didn't bring up any links between Louise and this painting, but for some reason it did bring up this book, which has a bit of info about the portrait in the film - it was painted by an artist named John Ferren especially for the film. Other biographies (not ours) say he was an artistic consultant for a couple of Hitchcock films, but I haven't found anything further about this painting in particular.

(2) (A sort of answer until a painting expert appears.) Following the painting you post here to Commons lets you look at the categories it's in - 19th-century oil portraits of standing women at three-quarter length and Portraits with mirror are among those that might help determine if there are identifiable conventions of portraiture at work. We have Portrait painting, but it doesn't seem to delve too deeply into the conventions. 184.147.131.85 (talk) 21:25, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

OK, 184, thanks for all that; nice information. Still wondering if anyone has more.... --Trovatore (talk) 03:55, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

• Not really relevant, but I have to say that Vertigo, while not being one of my favourite movies as such, has a superb film score (by Bernard Herrmann) that's one of my 2 all-time favourites. The other is John Williams' score to Schindler's List. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:15, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

  TBH I can't even remember the music. I'll try to pay attention next time. It's one of my favorites (actually, probably my number one favorite) for reasons more having to do with the story. Too bad about the ending, though. I always felt like Hitchcock couldn't quite figure out how to end it, and the money wouldn't wait, so he just had to come up with something. --Trovatore (talk) 07:28, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

• Here's a relevant still from the film since I don't see a link to it above. μηδείς (talk) 19:02, 26 November 2015 (UTC)